US’s Wolin defends fight for financial overhaul

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WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) – The Obama administration will resist any efforts to weaken a “comprehensive and strong” change to the way the U.S. financial system is regulated that lawmakers are now debating, Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin said on Monday.
“We will fight hard against any effort to weaken that legislation, and we will work to strengthen it further where we can,” Wolin said in a speech to the Council of Institutional Investors.
The former insurance company executive said he expects the Senate “soon” to take up its version of the measure, which he called “long overdue.”
Wolin said the U.S. is now “on the path to recovery,” but policymakers should not be complacent and avoid fixing a “flawed, outdated regulatory system.”
“We cannot afford to let the memory of the (financial) crisis fade without taking action,” Wolin said.
Wolin’s speech is one of a number of high-profile events the administration has scheduled on financial regulation in the wake of congressional passage of comprehensive changes to the U.S. healthcare system.
The administration has repeatedly said changing the U.S. financial regulatory regime is now the top legislative priority for the administration, though the recent retirement of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens could complicate those efforts.
Debate over Stevens’ replacement is likely to consume a substantial amount of the oxygen of official Washington in the coming months.
(Reporting Rachelle Younglai and Corbett B. Daly; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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